Christian Morgenstern citations

“Everything is beautiful if you love it.”

“In every work of art, the artist himself is present.”

“A true artist never portrays to please, but to show.”

“To me, the term ‘middle-class’ connotes a safe, comfortable, middle-of-the road policy. Above all, our language is ‘middle-class’ in the middle of our road. To drive it to one side or the other or even off the road, is the noblest task of the future.”

“Home is not where you live but where they understand you.”

“For, he reasons pointedly
That which must not, can not be.”

“None of you knows what creativity means. To paint a picture, to write a poem? No! To recast one’s whole age, to impose upon it the stamp of one’s will, to fill it with beauty, to overwhelm it, to overpower it with one’s spirit.”

“Often I am struck in amazement about a word: I suddenly realize that the complete arbitrariness of our language is but a part of the arbitrariness of our own world in general.”

“There is a ghost That eats hankerchiefs; It keeps you company On all your travels.”

“Chess truly uncovers whether or not someone has imagination and takes initiative.”

“My method is to find a word with a gesture.”

“A poet must have died as a man before he is worth anything as a poet”

“For me, there is only one means of ensuring that I do not lose respect for myself: constant criticism.”

“If I did not love what is present, if I could not cling to this enormous, safe parachute, I would long since have fallen into the abyss.”

“Often I am struck in amazement about a word: I suddenly realize that the complete arbitrariness of our language is but a part of the arbitrariness of our own world in general.”

“If modern civilization man had to kill the animals he eats, the number of vegetarians would rise astronomically.”

“The first principle of child-rearing is to choose a good mother.”

“Humor is the contemplation of the finite from the point of view of the infinite.”

“Enthusiasm is the most beautiful word on earth.”

“There are often some hundred times, a thousand times, before you can really see it for the first time.”